The Reads in London
by stevesmopeds
Summary: UK Vacation for the Reads, how will it go? Will they meet the Queen?
1. Katzenellenbogan

**Katzenellenbogan **

The Reads were going on vacation to London, England. Jane and David thought to keep it a surprise for their kids, so they had them blindfolded for the journey to Katzenellenbogan Airport. A small detour was made to drop Pal off at Thora's (quietly as not to make the kids suspect anything) and then to change Kate's diaper. Quickly, however, they arrived at the airport and when David parked the car in an available space in the car park, Jane instructed Arthur and DW to remove their blindfolds.

"Surprise!" she exclaimed "We're going on vacation!"

"Oh boy a vacation" DW screamed, "Mary Moo Cow taught us about vacation last night. V-A-C-A-T-O-N" she sang.

"-ion," corrected Arthur, quietly, "mom, where are we going?

"London," replied David, "we're going to England"

"Their accents are so fancy" Jane said, dreamily "and the Queen"

"Will we meet the queen of England?" Arthur inquired, "after all we have met the President" he added.

"Well, we are going to Buckingham Palace where the Queen lives," replied David, "so who knows?"

"Maybe I should get lost again and then the Queen will take me back like the President" DW asserted.

"Maybe, dear" Jane laughed. "So, shall we go in?"

The family took their cases into the airport and checked in. As they were sitting in the departures lounge, 45 minutes or so later, the electricity flickered on and off for several seconds, then a full-scale blackout ensued – the Reads figured out the cause of the problem when they heard a loud bang from the thunderstorm going on outside. An announcement boomed through the speakers telling all that due to the storm and the blackout, all flights would be delayed until further notice.

"Great, just great," Arthur muttered, "stuck in a dark airport with DW..."

"Mommy I can't see anything! Where are you?" DW cried

"Right where I was dear, beside you" Jane said comfortingly, offering her hand to comfort DW as Kate began to cry in the stroller in front of her

David whispered something to Jane about the typical nature in which their first trip to the UK was delayed as another announcement was heard, telling everyone that the power would soon to be coming back on for a bit due to the use of a generator but flights were still delayed


	2. Delays are Fun

**Delays are fun **

"So," said Arthur, as the lights slowly came back on, "What're we going to do in London? When Buster was there he..."

"No-one cares about what Butser did!" DW exclaimed, "This is _our _vacation. Bunsler was only there for a couple of days anyway. If you want to copy Busla all the time then go be his brother!" she finished.

"It's BUSTER, DW. It's B-U-S-T-E-R!" Arthur shouted "anyway, I didn't say we should copy him, only his experience might give us some ideas"

"Not a bad idea, Arthur" Jane said, as DW sighed with frustration, "but let's maybe discuss this later on? Right now I could go for a coffee," she finished, in an attempt to quash the impending dispute between DW and Arthur

The Reads walked to the cafe. As the airport's electricity was currently being powered by a generator, it wasn't quite as powerful as normal, so the options were limited to tea, coffee and cold drinks and snacks for the moment. The Reads got sandwiches and coffee or soda and sat down at a table and thought about what they were going to do. As they did so, a further announcement was heard, this time telling everyone that the electrician had been round to say that they'd fixed the minor problem with the electricity supply and it would be turned back on soon. Furthermore, the storm had stopped – although it was still raining a little – so flights would begin to resume letting people on within an hour.

"I'm bored," DW stated.

"You heard what they said, dear, only an hour or so to go" Jane replied, as the electricity returned to full power.

"But our flight wasn't going to start for a while anyway, so it's going to be more than an hour for us," DW countered, "they'll do other flights first!"

Jane cursed her daughter's surprisingly high wisdom and awareness levels, and suggested that maybe they play a game or explore their surroundings for a while. This idea was rejected on the grounds that "there's nothing to do in an airport except shop and we can do that at home". Jane gave up and suggested that DW maybe take a nap, do some coloring or something (hopefully) quiet. She and David feared that, for their particular flight, there still may be a while to go. Arthur settled down to read one of his favorite books and DW began to fall asleep.

"Peace and quiet at last," David sighed.

He spoke too soon. A couple of minutes later, Kate began to cry. It turned out to be a need of a diaper change, so Jane took her to the bathroom while David remained to watch the other kids, luckily Arthur only briefly looked up from his book to see what was going on and DW slept through the whole thing. Jane returned a couple of minutes later, with more coffees for her and David and soda for Arthur. For the first time in a while they were content with the situation.


	3. Hello London!

**Hello London!**

Eventually, the call for passengers to Heathrow Airport (London) was heard by the Reads so Jane woke DW and they walked to the gate and got in another queue – which made DW very unhappy and annoyed.

"This is boring!" she exclaimed, "thanks a lot Arthur!"

"Why is it my fault?" Arthur asked, irritated at his sister's irrational train of thought, "this is what happens at the airport."

"I don't know right now, but I'll find a way to prove you're to blame" DW replied

"Now, kids, don't argue," Jane said, "We've not even got on the airplane yet…"

It wasn't too long before they were let onto the plane and found their seats and ordered a snack from the passing air hostess. David panicked for a minute about the hotel not knowing that they'd arrive possibly the next day after all the issues with the delays (and the 5-hour time difference), but Jane reassured him by stating that the hotel had probably heard about it somehow, and if they hadn't then they'd understand.

"So," said Arthur, as DW fell asleep again, "as I was saying earlier, when Buster went to London, he said that he visited the Tower of London, Madame Tussard's waxwork museum, several museums and Buckingham Palace"

"Good ideas," David replied, "we'll try to put those in somehow, and we will also spend a few days maybe outside of London to see what else England has to offer, they have plenty of castles and really old posh houses that the public can visit. It's going to be great. I've always wanted to try lack pudding as well as haggis. You can try them too."

"What are they?" Arthur inquired, a little scared

"You'll see," said David, as Jane rolled her eyes.

The journey passed in relative comfort for the Reads and they reached London at 4am local time, by which point all but David were asleep. As the plane landed, he woke Jane and Arthur and picked up DW and carried her, with Kate in the stroller. After all the usual baggage claim and rental car performance, they arrived at their hotel at about 6am, by which point the sun was up. David checked in and apologized for their being late (he'd booked to check in about 7 hours earlier - technically the previous day), but the hotel had seen on the American news channels and on the internet the problems facing some US airports and – as Jane had said on the airplane – they didn't mind. After a quick ride in the elevator and a short walk, they arrived at their hotel suite.

"Home sweet home," David remarked, looking impressed at their place of residence for the next two weeks

"Dad," DW and Arthur said in unison "I'm hungry!"

"OK then. Breakfast room opens at 7.30, so not too long to go, okay?" he asked

When the time came, they walked down breakfast and David saw that black pudding was on offer. He picked up a few pieces, with the intention of introducing the rest of the family to the delicacy. Arthur looked worried as David put a piece on each plate as they reached their table.

"Dig in kids," he said "you'll LOVE it."


End file.
